of the Stomaclu 273 



Succeed. Gooseberries, strawberries, currants, whortle- 

 berries, peaches of a middling' or inferior quality, apples 

 o£the same character, cherries, plumbs, blackberries, 

 and native grapes, being very apt to ferment in the de- 

 bilitated stomachj should be used sparingly, if at all ; and 

 none of them, nor any of the other fruits can be safely in- 

 dulged in, when the debility of the stomach is severe. — • 

 Every judicious person, however, can best determine for 

 himself, on making a few trials, which are easiest of di- 

 gestion, and whether his digestion is sufficiently vigo- 

 rous, to render any of them safe. It ought to be added, 

 that different persons do not, in ail instances, find the same 

 fruits easiest of digestion. It ought further to be observ- 

 ed, that in some instances, certain vegetable acids great- 

 ly relieve acidity. Thus I have known finely flavoured 

 and pungent bottled cider, have this efFecto 



A distinguished medical gentleman has informed me, 

 since writing the above, that, having somewhere seen a free 

 use of ripe oranges strongly recommended for the relief of 

 this complaint, he w^as induced in one case where all the 

 usual remedies had failed, to give them a trial, and that 

 his patient, a delicate lady, experienced great relief from 

 this source. The fruit was not of the customary quality, 

 picked green and ripened by decay, but uncommonly 

 sweet and finely flavored* Did the vegetable acid so 

 stimulate the secreting vessels as to excite a more healthy 

 action ? It surely could not have produced this eflect 

 by retarding, or preventing the fermentation of the ali-" 

 mentary mass. 



Many kinds of apples and pears are rendered much 

 more digestible, by baking or roasting. Fruits preserv- 

 ed in sugar, are less easy of digestion, than in the natural 

 state. Of preserved fruits, several kinds of pears which 

 may be kept through the v/inter, in their natural state, 

 and prepared for use as they are wanted, and what is pe- 

 culiarly important, may be made highly palatable with 

 a small quantity of sugar, are perhaps the safest. 



Of the garden vegetables, consisting of pulse, sallads, 

 pot herbs, and roots, which are generally cultivated in 

 this country, asparagus is, so far as my knowledge ex- 



H 



